CSB: 2017 Pressure Vessel Explosion at Loy-Lange Box Company in St. Louis MO

CSB Releases Final Report into 2017 Pressure Vessel Explosion at Loy-Lange Box Company in St. Louis MO

On April 3, 2017, an explosion occurred at the Loy-Lange Box Company (Loy-Lange) in St. Louis, Missouri. The incident occurred when the bottom head of a pressure vessel called a Semi-Closed Receiver, which was used in Loy-Lange’s steam system, catastrophically failed. The pressure vessel failure caused a boiling liquid expanding vapor explosion (BLEVE) which fatally injured the Loy-Lange employee working nearby and launched the pressure vessel from the Loy-Lange building into the air. The vessel eventually crashed through the roof of a nearby business, fatally injuring three members of the public.

Corrosion, Inspection, and Repair issues. The CSB determined that the cause of the explosion was deficiencies in Loy-Lange’s operations, policies, and process safety practices that failed to prevent or mitigate chronic corrosion in its Semi-Closed Receiver and Kickham Boiler and Engineering’s performance of an inadequate repair to the SCR in 2012 that left damaged material in place. Contributing to the incident was the City of St. Louis’s missed opportunities to identify and ensure the inspection of the SCR, Arise’s acceptance of and failure to detect Kickham’s inadequate repair, and gaps in Arise’s and the National Board of Boiler and Pressure Vessel Inspectors’ repair inspection requirements.

The final investigation report:

https://www.csb.gov/loy-lange-box-company-pressure-vessel-explosion-/

The animation: